Cardinals need to capitalize on Alec Burleson's desire to sign a long-term extension

After yet another season where Alec Burleson has become even more valuable to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup, the star first baseman told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he'd be all ears if the Cardinals wanted to explore an extension, and that he'd "100% be open to being here and being with this group of guys."

Where do we sign the dotted line?

Burleson has been excellent for the Cardinals again this season, posting a .279/.343/.464 slash line with 24 home runs and 113 RBI entering play on Friday. His 3.0 fWAR is the highest mark of his career, as he's played great defense at first base and provided the Cardinals with consistent production in the middle of their lineup.

So what would it take to get Burleson to sign a long-term extension?

Alec Burleson is a no-brainer extension candidate for the Cardinals

Unlike Jordan Walker, who would likely command a massive extension due to him hitting free agency in his mid-20s, Burleson's age and position limit what the ceiling of his contract would be, and yet, his production is invaluable to the Cardinals.

Burleson is one of the best hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching, posting a 154 wRC+ against them this season. That is a huge advantage for the Cardinals' lineup to have, especially with a lot of their core bats being right-handed. Now, Burleson does struggle a lot against left-handed pitching, with his 52 wRC+ against lefties being among the worst in baseball and he's found himself there for years now. It's something he's started to improve on lately, but needs a much larger sample size to say he's "fixed".

With Burleson entering year two of arbitration, he has just two years of club control remaining before hitting free agency. He actually indicated that he hopes the Cardinals explore an extension with him prior to the lockout, but if they don't, that they'll follow up with him in spring training. Burleson made $3.3 million in arbitration in 2026, so he should expect a healthy raise for the 2027 season.

Since the Cardinals would be buying out two years of arbitration in this deal, they'll likely get a bit of a savings compared to what he'd make on the open market, but not by a ton with so little time left in his club control. Back in 2022, Willson Contreras signed a five-year, $87.5 million deal to play catcher for the Cardinals and was eventually moved to first base. I do think that is a very interesting number to consider, one that Burleson could go a bit higher than, but be in the ballpark of.

The Cardinals do have other potential first base options coming in the near future, whether that is a position change for Ivan Herrera or an additional position for Leo Bernal and Rainiel Rodriguez to play, so locking Burleson down at first base would complicate those situations. Not a bad thing at all to do, just a reality to consider.

Let's all hope the Cardinals can get something done with Burleson soon.

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